dinar
Pluraldinars
- 1The official currency of several countries, including Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Serbia, and Tunisia.
The shopkeeper quoted every price in dinars rather than euros.
Iraq introduced a new dinar after years of severe inflation.
Note
One name, many treasuries: because so many states issue a dinar, a sum such as 3,000 dinars means little until you know whose dinar it is. The word reached English through both Arabic dīnār and Serbo-Croatian динар, and both go back to Latin dēnārius. That is why North Macedonia's currency appears as denar, and why the word has cousins in denier, dinero and dinheiro.
- 2An ancient Arab gold coin weighing about 65 grains.
The caliph's treasury counted thousands of gold dinars each year.
A skilled craftsman might earn a dinar for several days of work.
Note
A word for history books rather than price lists. When a text speaks of a caliph's treasury or of wages paid in gold dinars, it means this weighed gold piece, not the modern national currency that shares its name. Writers keep the two apart through context: gold dinars, early dinars, or the dinars of a named ruler all point back to the coin.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Arabic "dīnār" (also reaching English through Serbo-Croatian "dinar", itself from Arabic), which derives from the Latin "dēnārius". It is a doublet of denar, denarius, denier, diner, dinero, and dinheiro.